Somerset Innovation Hub

Background of the idea

A Somerset-based founder came to the Somerset Innovation Hub with a strong idea: taking his own offline approach to selecting and schooling apprentices, as a basis for developing an online learning platform others could benefit from. He had a genuine insight into what makes successful apprentices but was moving straight to a technology solution without first testing whether the idea itself held up.

Support from the hub

The Hub’s role was to slow things down and find a low-risk place to start – helping to identify and separate two tools which had been treated as one: one for preparing and selecting good candidates, and another for training them once selected.

The Hub also challenged assumptions around funding. Grants are an increasingly competitive and selective route, so they encouraged him to think about partnerships too – existing training providers or video-screening platforms already active in this space, who might license his judgement and sector expertise rather than build himself from scratch.

What’s next

The founder is now working on a simple, low-cost pilot plan: a written scorecard, off-the-shelf tools for video submission, safeguarding tools built in, and a blind-scoring test with a peer business, to check whether his evaluation approach holds up when someone else applies it – crucial evidence for the next stage. This is a good example of the kind of support on offer: helping a founder identify and test the riskiest assumption first, cheaply, before committing time or money to build. 

Background of the suggested plan

The Somerset Innovation Hub was approached by the founders of an early-stage deep-tech energy company, whose proposition was based on a novel method of generating power using a cryogenically cooled system.  Some validation work had been done, but they were struggling to convince funders or potential university collaborators.

How the hub supported

The Hub carried out due diligence – checking the company’s public record, testing the credibility of the validation being cited, and unpicking branding and terminology that would put off anyone technical looking closely.

The picture was mixed: some aspects would not survive contact with an expert reviewer. But there was also a genuine, credible academic contact who had expressed real interest, and no reason to rule out the underlying science without proper testing.

The Hub gave the founders direct, evidenced feedback: on the problems, what was needed to address them, and on how their IP and funding structure would need to work for university involvement to be possible. We used a standard technology readiness framework to give them a concrete diagnosis – a potentially credible concept, but with a clear gap around independent, physically measured proof.

What’s next for the work

The founders have taken this well, addressing what is needed prior to exploring routes to fund the next stage of validation. It’s a reminder that good advisory work sometimes means giving founders a harder truth, clearly and constructively, rather than the encouragement they were hoping for. 

Background

A Somerset-based founder, an assurance and compliance specialist with 15 years’ experience supporting SMEs, had built up a trusted network of specialist providers – covering areas like health and safety, cyber security and GDPR – and was preparing to launch a service to help SMEs in manufacturing and engineering meet the standards needed to win corporate contracts.

Support

The original model was based around a diagnostic tool, leading to paid consultancy work, then implementation through the network of approved providers. The Somerset Innovation Hub helped the founder to see that the value in the trust network itself, and that it offered large manufacturers already circling a way to de-risk their own SME supply chains without doing the legwork themselves.

Now the diagnostic tool is becoming something a corporate partner pays to fund directly – because knowing their suppliers are compliant has real value for them. From there, SMEs now move into a structured compliance or assurance package delivered through the network of providers, with consultancy narrowed down to a smaller, targeted piece rather than the main product. The Hub also identified other sectors with similar dynamics, such as construction, to explore once the model has been fully validated.

What’s next

The response so far has been strong. One of the anchor partners is now actively looking to help fund gap analyses, and development of the bundled package model is in progress. It’s a good example of how support is sometimes about helping founders see the more valuable business hiding inside the one they’ve already started to build.